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Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach: Audi Finishes 1 & 2 in ALMS Thriller!
Nothing could have been more exciting than race weekend in Southern California. The weather was gorgeous, the cars were amazing, and the crowds came in boatloads. Now keep in mind, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach does not follow your typical schedule of events. The entire weekend for the 34th running of this prestigious race was more of an entertainment festival than the norm for the more than 175,000 race fans in attendance.
Saturday, the most important day for my itinerary, included the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series, 32nd annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, EZ Lube Team Drift Challenge/Super Lap Competition, Tecate Light “Rock-N-Roar” Concert, Miss Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pageant, and the Lifestyle Expo at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center. The day felt more like “Carnival” in Brazil than street racing in Cali. Actually, there was a Samba school dancing to the rhythmic beats of Brazilian drums and whistles!
Of course, the main attraction was the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), which is now in its 10th season and features some of the most technically advanced race machines in the world. For example, Audi runs a prodigious R10 TDI which uses a custom blend of Shell V-Power diesel. The R10 is so special that it won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans in its first season (2006) and was the first diesel to do so. The vehicle’s dominance reminds me of Speed Racer and his race thirsty Mach 5 which didn't like to lose! In all, Audi and its motorsports team have taken titles from 2000 to 2007 in the ALMS series.
Much can be attributed to the R10’s success. Featuring a twin-turbo V12 with 650-horsepower, the vehicle is very powerful. Add quattro all-wheel drive and Michelin tires and the vehicle grips road courses and urban street circuits like spiders on webs. Michelin, which supplies tires to about 70 percent of ALMS teams, is chosen by drivers and not a prerequisite as Goodyear is to NASCAR. For 2008, ALMS extended invitations to Hankook and Falken Tires to join Michelin, Yokohama, Kumho and Dunlop as the Series’ tire suppliers. Other news for ALMS in 2008 includes Bell Motorsports returning to GT1 with an Aston Martin DBR9; Drayson-Barwell Motorsports racing a new Vantage V8 running on bio-ethanol and Acura adding a fourth vehicle to the LMP2 class.
The ALMS race itself was one of the most exciting I’ve attended in years. With four classes -- LMP1, LMP2, GT1 and GT2 – the streets of Long Beach were full of prototypes and GT cars from Audi, Acura, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Chevy, Porsche and more. They came out like marching soldiers and for one hour and forty minutes you heard the gracious sound of skies parting from thunder. But in the end and with no surprise at all, Audi placed first and second with their R10s driven by winning car Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr and runner-up car Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro. They were the winner of their LMP1 class (the fastest class of all) and the overall winner. But it wasn’t easy. The two drivers did not overtake the Porsche RS Spyder until 11 minutes left in the race. "From the beginning the car was good so we didn't make many changes," Werner said. “So you can guess we are quite happy with Michelin at the moment. The car setup is really helping us a lot this year, especially in the street circuits. We are in max lock trying to make the turns, especially in the hairpins. But the Michelins are keeping the car where it should be and helping us deal with all the corners."
The normally aspirated 500-horspower V8 powered Acura ARX-01B driven by David Brabham and Scott Sharp also ousted the Porsche RS Spyder. The top finish in the LMP2 class gave Acura their first win since joining the series at Sebring last year. The Corvette C6-R, also wearing Michelins, took the GT1 title and Ferrari’s 430 GT took GT2.
Next up is the fourth race of the ALMS series in Tooele, Utah. The action from the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by the Grand and Little Hotels will take place at Miller Motorsports Park Sunday, May 18th.
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